Friday, January 01, 2016

Happy New Year!

I've come to the conclusion that there is no point in New Year's resolutions. I usually make the same ones each year - eat less, exercise more, keep a cleaner house, etc. - and usually fail. Instead of calling them "resolutions", maybe I will refer to them as "habits of the heart", some general goals to strive for without treating them as make-or-break commandments.

Regarding my knitting, here are some "habits of the heart" I am going to strive for:

Quality over quantity: I simply enjoy knitting, and sometimes get caught up in cranking out yards and yards of knitted products without paying close attention to the quality of what I am knitting. Consequently, there are sweaters that are too big and shapeless to wear out of the house, socks too small to wear at all, gloves made of too-stretchy alpaca, mittens that don't match, etc. Going forward, I resolve to pay more attention to knitting with the appropriate yarns, on right-sized needles for the desired fabric, in correct gauge.

Let's be practical: Over the years, I have knit a variety of items that never see the light of day once finished. For example, when my g'daughter was a baby, we could dress her in all manner of hand knits, but now she has opinions and a fashion sense that does not include the sweaters I so lovingly provided. Another example are shawls: fun to knit, not so much fun to wear. Going forward, I resolve to knit only what is asked for or agreed to, in colors and yarns the recipient approves. (The only exception to this is xmas socks - I get to have fun with those.)

Break away from patterns: I developed the habit of slavishly following patterns because 1) that is one way to learn, 2) it is quicker than coming up with my own patterns, and 3) if the results are not so good, I can blame it on the pattern (whether that is an accurate assessment or not). Now I have plenty of sweaters and blankets. Everyone I knit for has socks, gloves, scarves, hats, afghans galore. And I am retired, so time is no longer of the essence. Going forward, I resolve to invent my own designs, experiment with how to construct them, enjoy the journey instead of the destination.

What about you? Are there any knitting goals you would like to achieve this year?

1 comment:

Delusional Knitter said...

I definitely agree with the quality over quantity! That's one of my goals as well. And I often make things just to do it (not for no reason - for a technique or interesting structure) but its nothing I would wear with my jeans/t-shirt/hoodie wardrobe - so I hope to GIFT more stuff in the future. And knitting (and spinning) down the stash are in also ... but usually when I find something I want to work on, the right weight or color are NOT in the stash, LOL!